With today’s BBM update we’re incredibly excited to introduce a number of new features that will deliver the best BBM experience yet! At the center of this release are new privacy features that allow customers to take control over the messages and content that they share, so they can communicate with more discretion and freedom than ever before.

We have been testing these features with customers over the last few weeks and the feedback has been incredible. They’re telling us that Timed Messages and Message Retraction add a whole new dynamic to BBM – unlike any other chat app out there today.

Check out this short video we made to help illustrate just how valuable these new features can be! We’ve got a few more videos on the way over the next week to highlight the extreme lengths people will go to regain control over a message.

Here’s a quick overview of what you’ll find in this latest release of BBM:

Timed Messages: Set how long contacts have access to messages and pictures shared in a chat*

Message Retraction: ‘Retract’ a message to remove it from your BBM chat*

A quicker sticker picker: Adding stickers to your BBM chats is now even quicker with a new picker

HD Picture Transfer: It’s easier than ever to get a high quality version of the pictures you receive in BBM

Discover Music: See what music your contacts are listening to in BBM Feeds.

With these new features, now is the time to get your friends on BBM to start enjoying the unmatched level of privacy and control. Timed Messages and Message Retraction features are premium features that will be available free and without restriction over the next three months. After this time, unrestricted access to these features will become part of a broader bundle of features that will be offered as part of a BBM subscription.

It may take 24 hours or more for the update to appear in your app store depending on your mobile platform and region.

*Note: While these features are designed to remove the message or picture from the recipient’s BBM chat view, they do not prevent recipients from capturing an image of the content by taking a screenshot or using an image capture device. Retracting a message after it has been read by the recipient will remove the message from the BBM chat view, but will not affect copies of the message that the recipient may have made prior to the message being retracted.

Earlier this week, I sat down with Jeff Gadway to chat about what makes the BBM experience on Windows Phone unique and provide a micro-tutorial for getting setup and how to use the app. Watch it below:

I Hope you enjoyed the video – now go download BBM for Windows Phone for free and enjoy all the benefits outlined in the video above. To see which of your friends have recently joined BBM go to “Suggestions” on the “Invites” tab within the app. Welcome to the BBM party, Windows Phone users!

A recent article in the New York Times highlights alternatives to traditional SMS text messaging, which lags in features and, depending on where you live, can be very expensive. As the pioneer of free data-based messaging, BBM not only has those features but is the only major platform that can confirm your beloved messages have been sent, delivered and, most importantly, read. Even if you end up switching phones or platforms your BBM messages will be delivered when you sign in to your existing BBM account on a new device. That’s unlike Apple’s iMessage, which is the subject of a lawsuit over messages it failed to deliver to Android users.

“There are too many alternative messaging systems now to keep using iMessage,” writes New York Times columnist Molly Wood. “… try BBM — formerly known as BlackBerry Messenger — whose fans are devoted and convinced of its unshakeable security. BBM can do everything iMessage can do, but without ever touching your text messages.”

During its World-Wide Developer Conference (WWDC) yesterday, Apple didn’t address iMessage’s delivery issues, though it announced a few new features such as cross-platform voice chat and location-sharing that publications such as Gizmodo Australia noted already existed in BBM.

BBM Groups — going beyond group chat

If you’re still not convinced, consider that BBM has advanced group collaboration that is perfect for small businesses, clubs, families and sports teams. You can share calendars, photos, files and tasks. My adult softball team uses BBM to connect. We have a calendar set up with every game that syncs to every player’s phone. A group chat lets us work on our strategy on game day – and see who will be absent. We use the lists feature to coordinate who’s responsible for bringing the cooler of post-game beverages.

Location sharing powered by Glympse integration

As I noted earlier, BBM already offers this very helpful location-sharing feature. Essentially, with BBM you can share your location at any time with another contact – this will allow them to visually see where you are on a map for a set amount of time. It also plots out your path on a map. I use Glympse with my wife, we share a car – so she can see when I leave the office and where I am on my commute to pick her up. It takes the guesswork out of “I’m on my way, be there soon” moments.

BBM Stickers — enhanced emoticons to get your point across

These emoticons are guaranteed to get a reaction. You can creatively integrate a BBM sticker into a chat when having fun. I use the massive ‘Thumbs Up’ and the huge ‘Hug’ daily. With more and more sticker packs from artists and brands coming each month, it’s easy to get hooked on sending these digital stickers.

Connect with brands and personalities on BBM Channels

BBM Channels is a unique way for you to connect with some of your favorite brands. One of my favorite examples of this is how our racing partner MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS used BBM Channels to host a live chat for fans with driver Nico Rosberg. A chance to chat with a racing legend? Yes, please. Read the details here.

Security — For enterprise peace of mind

Security and privacy are part of the DNA of BBM. When it comes to security, BBM uses several layers of encryption to secure BBM messages today. TLS encryption is used to secure the connection between the device and server. This protects messages against eavesdropping and manipulation. And through that secure pipe we further secure BBM messages with a triple DES BBM scrambling key. So you have a secure message flowing through a secure pipe. Plus, with the “ultra-secure” (Engadget’s words) BBM Protected launching next month we add yet another level of encryption. Messages sent between BBM Protected users are encrypted using a public / private encryption key pair unique to those two users and controlled by the enterprise. BBM Protected will be the only secure instant messaging service to use a FIPS 140-2 validated cryptographic library meaning that it has met a series of strict U.S. government requirements.*

As of February 2015, BlackBerry holds 70+ security certifications and approvals from governments.

]]>http://blogs.blackberry.com/2014/06/bbm-nyt/feed/0ibb-bbm-first-week-featuredonnyhalliwellBBM for Android and iPhone LaunchBBM 2.0 – 3 things you may not know about location sharing powered by Glympsehttp://blogs.blackberry.com/2014/05/bbm-3things-glympse/
http://blogs.blackberry.com/2014/05/bbm-3things-glympse/#commentsWed, 21 May 2014 18:16:07 +0000http://blogs.blackberry.com/?p=20126/ Read More]]>Recently, we launched BBM 2.0 and with it came a lot of new features, one of which was location sharing powered by Glympse.

With this new BBM feature, we wanted to make sure you had all the info you need to take full advantage of this great addition.

Here are three things you may not know about sharing your location:

It’s easy as 1, 2, 3
In just three clicks, you can be sharing your real-time location with any BBM contact you choose, for however long you wish:

Within a BBM conversation, click the share button

Click on the Glympse location sharing button

Set how long you’d like to share your location for and ‘send’

It’s secure
BBM has always come with privacy features built in. It’s in our DNA. Location sharing is no different. You are always fully in control. You can set who sees you and for how long. Once the time expires, your location is private again.

It’s available in multi-person chats
Meeting up with a bunch of people you’ve been talking to in a multi-person chat and want to tell them you’re on your way? No worries. Just share your location once right within your BBM chat, and everyone will be able to see where you are. And don’t worry, as always, once the timer runs out, your location is private again.

The IM space is an exciting one to be part of these days. In recent months we’ve seen the spotlight placed on instant messaging apps and services, through huge acquisitions to new startups from around the world. In this same time frame, the BBM experience has continued to evolve in many great ways too. With new features like BBM Voice, BBM Channels and location sharing powered by Glympse®, our users are able to communicate, connect and share experiences like never before. The recent launch of BBM for Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) and announcement of BBM for Windows Phone® and Nokia X will bring these experiences to even more people around the world.

At BBM, we believe that just as important as what an app does is how that app does it. That’s why we want to spend a few minutes talking about security and privacy.

Not all IM apps are built secure. BBM is.

In talking to many users from around the world, we understand that many of them view ‘security’ as being outside their control – measures put in place by the service provider. When customers talk about ‘security’ concerns they often associate them with attacks by strangers. And while most users have not personally experienced a breach of security, a real fear exists out there of ‘what if’.

Recently, we’ve seen and heard about many security breaches in the news – from tens of millions of credit cards being compromised at large retailers to several million user accounts being exposed on other IM apps. This week we saw a report that talked about how other IM apps that store chats in the shared storage space of your smartphone could leave them vulnerable to compromise.

BBM has always put security at the forefront. On BlackBerry, the end to end security model is built on a foundation of secure hardware interacting with secure software. Security is reinforced at every level of the device from CPU to boot ROM, to OS and file system, and applications. The root of trust that BlackBerry builds for its customers remains unbroken throughout the chain, and is unlike other security models that rely on the interaction of components from multiple vendors. On Android®, BBM runs and stores all its data within the internal secure storage of the Android sandbox providing higher security than other IM apps that store their database in the shared storage space of the device. Similarly, on iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch, BBM runs and stores all its data within the iOS app sandbox.

With the introduction of BBM Protected this summer, BBM will extend its leadership in secure mobile messaging. Developed for organizations in regulated industries, BBM Protected introduces additional layers of best in class security to protect messages in transit between employees within an organization. This means that once a message is encrypted on the sender’s device, it is never decrypted until it reaches the recipient’s device.

Openness and privacy should not be tradeoffs.

While customers suggest that ‘security’ is the responsibility of the service, ‘privacy’, is viewed as the responsibility of each individual. Privacy is seen to be within the user’s control, and subject to human choice – who you share with, what info you share, and how you choose to self-censor. Customers have been clear that they want and need features that help them take control over their privacy.

BBM has always come with privacy features built in. It’s in our DNA. The unique PIN number assigned to each BBM user allows them to choose to connect anonymously or without divulging details like their phone number or email address. The double opt in process for becoming contacts ensures that both parties are willing participants in the conversation and agree to let each other in to their respective inner circles. Furthermore, BBM has always made it easy to govern your contact list by allowing you to block and or delete contacts at any time.

Some will argue BBM should do away with privacy measures all together in the spirit of greater openness, but we have heard from customers that when implemented in the right way, privacy features offer greater discretion and freedom when using IM. With that in mind, we will continue to introduce new features which give users control over their privacy, but will do so in a way that encourages openness and fosters the building of a large and thriving BBM community. The ‘Find Friends’ feature provides a great example of striking a balance between openness and privacy.

To help you find and add BBM contacts, Find Friends helps identify contacts in your smartphone’s address book that are also using BBM and allows you to send them a private PIN invitation. When a match is found between a user in your address book and a BBM user, their first and last names are populated from your local address book using information you already have about that contact. You do not receive any additional personal identifiable information about the BBM user until such time as they accept your BBM contact invitation.

Our promise: security and privacy will remain integral to BBM

As we continue to bring new experiences to our customers you have our commitment that security and privacy will remain a top priority and an integral part of the BBM DNA. We will continue to innovate around making our service secure and allowing you the control over your privacy while introducing new experiences that will help you to connect and share with friends, family and colleagues in new and exciting ways.

]]>http://blogs.blackberry.com/2014/03/bbm-security/feed/0stockfeature5jgadwayebbmSharing Photos from your BlackBerryhttp://blogs.blackberry.com/2009/06/sharing-photos-from-your-blackberry/
http://blogs.blackberry.com/2009/06/sharing-photos-from-your-blackberry/#commentsMon, 01 Jun 2009 17:25:12 +0000http://blogs.blackberry.com/2009/06/sharing-photos-from-your-blackberry// Read More]]>A co-worker the other day told me a great story. His mom had just come back from vacation with what she thought was a great innovation – add zoom functionality to the camera. After explaining that BlackBerry® smartphone cameras do have a zoom, it made us think – what other features don’t people know about the camera?

Probably the biggest one is that you can easily share photos with friends or your online communities. After you’ve taken your photo, you can start sharing it within two clicks.

Here’s how:

After taking your photo, select the “send as” icon on the screen. If you can’t find it, you can also select “send as” from the menu. You can find the menu by pressing the menu key – this is the key with the “BB” on it.

Once you have selected the “send as” options, you can select where you want the photo to go.

Most devices have email, Messenger Contact (BlackBerry Messenger) and MMS (also known as picture SMS). You can also send photos to Flickr, MySpace, Facebook, GoogleTalk, Yahoo! Messenger, and Windows Live Messenger.

]]>http://blogs.blackberry.com/2009/06/sharing-photos-from-your-blackberry/feed/9Sean H.Sean_photo_sharing_pic_1Sean_photo_sharing_pic_2Instant Messaging 101http://blogs.blackberry.com/2009/05/instant-messaging-101/
http://blogs.blackberry.com/2009/05/instant-messaging-101/#commentsThu, 28 May 2009 00:12:22 +0000http://blogs.blackberry.com/2009/05/instant-messaging-101// Read More]]>One of the cool things about a BlackBerry® smartphone is the ability to keep in touch with friends using popular IM programs like Yahoo! Messenger, Windows Live Messenger, Google Talk, AIM and ICQ, (not to mention BlackBerry Messenger) which can be downloaded from www.blackberry.com/instantmessaging. Whichever instant messaging client you use, they all share some really useful and fun features.

Take the ability to set an alert letting you know when one of your friends comes online, for instance. If you need to chat with a friend , but you see she is offline, select the contact, and click on “Set Alert.” When your friend comes online, a notification pops up and you can start chatting.

Say you want to show her how much snow fell in the last couple of days. Fire up your camera and take a picture. Once you have taken the picture, you can use your favourite IM application to send the picture right from the camera. Select your friend from the list of online contacts, and the picture is sent to her and shows up in her conversation window.

Now, if you’re like some of my more popular friends, you’ll have a long list of contacts in your IM application. You can easily find the friend you want to talk to by typing the first few letters of your friend’s name on the contact list screen. The application will display the matches at the top, under “Search”. This is especially useful if your friends name starts with “Z” – you don’t have to scroll all the way down to start a conversation.

Want to add a friend to your IM contact list? When you’re in the contact list screen of your instant messaging application, you can add your friends to the BlackBerry Contacts. Select the friend and choose “Link to BlackBerry Contact” and the contact will be added. After you add your friend(s), you can see their presence and availability from the address book, and also call, email, SMS, MMS or IM your friend from anywhere on the device. If you’re in the message list, you can select your friend’s name in the email screen and choose “Instant Message”, it allows you to IM your friend in one or two clicks.